Tigersaurus 250 Scan
- Thread starter SoCal Sam
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Here's the original article if you're interested in more:
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/RadioElectronics/Dec1973/RE_Dec1973.htm
Also some inside photos:
http://marekspage.sslpowered.com/hifi-museum.com/temp/tiger_p.htm
Never had one, but wished I could afford one back then.
John
http://www.swtpc.com/mholley/RadioElectronics/Dec1973/RE_Dec1973.htm
Also some inside photos:
http://marekspage.sslpowered.com/hifi-museum.com/temp/tiger_p.htm
Never had one, but wished I could afford one back then.
John
I was doing some house cleaning today and came across some of my SWTPC amps and preamps from the '70s.
My first project was the twin Tiger Amps. I believe the were 100w per channel and, yes, when they were running with no input driving them, they made NO sound. You could crank them up and stick your head by the speaker and hear.... nothing. They were wildly crisp and could drive my JBLs to their limits. I later built their quirky, button heavy pre-amp, but I upgraded it to a Dynaco PAT-4 shortly afterwards. I also built the stereo amp (was it 30 watts per channel?). It looked much more refined that the Tigers with their huge metal heat sinks flanking the open electronics. I also got a pair of reverb springs and the controller, but they were more of a toy.
When I was in college in the '70s, we used to have parties at my apartment in the winter, because when I was driving the multiple sets of speakers with the Tiger Amps, they would sometimes over heat and trip the over heat relay to shut down. I had to place the amps ON THE WINDOW SILL with the window slightly open with the freezing air coming in to keep the heat sinks cool. It worked and those were memorable parties... probably for the neighbors, too.
One of the Tiger amps vanished (what are sisters for?) and the other one hasn't been used in many years. It may be time for them to morph to the giant electronics resting place in the sky. What do they say? "Ashes to ashes.... silicon to silicon..."
(A few years ago I managed to get into the listening room of Madrigal Audio in Middletown, CT. There must have been millions of dollars worth of super top of the line audio equipment sitting right there, and what do I hear? A 60 cycle hum!! No self respecting Tiger Amp would ever do that. We were really spoiled.)
Thanks for the memories, guys. I think of the enormous wall of sound that these amps put out and chuckle that the iPod generation has no idea what they've missed.
My first project was the twin Tiger Amps. I believe the were 100w per channel and, yes, when they were running with no input driving them, they made NO sound. You could crank them up and stick your head by the speaker and hear.... nothing. They were wildly crisp and could drive my JBLs to their limits. I later built their quirky, button heavy pre-amp, but I upgraded it to a Dynaco PAT-4 shortly afterwards. I also built the stereo amp (was it 30 watts per channel?). It looked much more refined that the Tigers with their huge metal heat sinks flanking the open electronics. I also got a pair of reverb springs and the controller, but they were more of a toy.
When I was in college in the '70s, we used to have parties at my apartment in the winter, because when I was driving the multiple sets of speakers with the Tiger Amps, they would sometimes over heat and trip the over heat relay to shut down. I had to place the amps ON THE WINDOW SILL with the window slightly open with the freezing air coming in to keep the heat sinks cool. It worked and those were memorable parties... probably for the neighbors, too.
One of the Tiger amps vanished (what are sisters for?) and the other one hasn't been used in many years. It may be time for them to morph to the giant electronics resting place in the sky. What do they say? "Ashes to ashes.... silicon to silicon..."
(A few years ago I managed to get into the listening room of Madrigal Audio in Middletown, CT. There must have been millions of dollars worth of super top of the line audio equipment sitting right there, and what do I hear? A 60 cycle hum!! No self respecting Tiger Amp would ever do that. We were really spoiled.)
Thanks for the memories, guys. I think of the enormous wall of sound that these amps put out and chuckle that the iPod generation has no idea what they've missed.
AintBaroque
Active Member
I am waiting for the Liger amplifier, it is pretty much my favorite amp - built for its skills in magic.
just dave
vintage rules!
Pretty flippin sweet my friend Pedro had one.
D-oh!! Man, you beat me to it.
Speaking of Napoleon Dynamite, did you know that the actress who played Deb (Tina Majorino) also played the girl with the map tattooed on her back (Enola) in Waterworld?
just dave
vintage rules!
Never seen Waterworld although I've hear great things about it.
uke:Ya gotta be fast round these parts cwall.
istols:
Never seen Waterworld although I've hear great things about it.
Ya gotta be fast round these parts cwall.
Akshully, I don't think Waterworld's all THAT bad. Okay, it's not great, but whenever you have Dennis Hopper as a psychotic villain, how bad can it be, really?
Yeah, you just beat me by the few minutes it took me to drive into work this morning. Okay, and make some coffee. Drink it. Get another cup. Drink it too.
Aw, hell, you did beat me to it. Rats.
I hear it only plays badly dubbed English with the actors' mouths badly out of sync with what they're saying.
markdi
Natural born thread killer
I have a few swtp devices in storage.
2 universal tigers - plastic tiger and 2 working tiger .01 pc boards
I had a button monster swtp preamp I think it was called the zero distortion preamp.
I also have a powersupply made by swtp.
There was a shake table at tektronics years ago that had 2 giant swtp amps.
I think it was 8kw per channel maybe more - 30 or 40 to3 type output devices per channel - fan cooled - something like that - no fun to troubleshoot.
2 universal tigers - plastic tiger and 2 working tiger .01 pc boards
I had a button monster swtp preamp I think it was called the zero distortion preamp.
I also have a powersupply made by swtp.
There was a shake table at tektronics years ago that had 2 giant swtp amps.
I think it was 8kw per channel maybe more - 30 or 40 to3 type output devices per channel - fan cooled - something like that - no fun to troubleshoot.
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I alway wanted to hear a pair of those amps in my system....haven't seen anything SWTP 'round these parts.
Lol! :lmao:
just dave
vintage rules!
bowtie427ss
Lunatic Member
With a little help from an EE cousin we built a pair of these back in the day, as well as a few of the smaller Tigers.
Beside the drawback of their BTU output, the cases of the TO-3 output devices are left naked(exposed) on the back of the unit. The fellow i traded them to was entertaining some guests one evening when he wanted to demonstrate his prowess at snapping beer bottle caps. Ultimately, one found it's way down behind the amps while they were in use and shorted an output case to the heat sink, actually welded itself in place.
I got them back as part of a trade years later and effectively traded them off again.
They were certainly impressive back in the day however, just give me a good ole BGW750 as it's just an all around better amp in every way in a package that's half the size and weight.
Thanks for posting the scan Sam.:thmbsp:
Beside the drawback of their BTU output, the cases of the TO-3 output devices are left naked(exposed) on the back of the unit. The fellow i traded them to was entertaining some guests one evening when he wanted to demonstrate his prowess at snapping beer bottle caps. Ultimately, one found it's way down behind the amps while they were in use and shorted an output case to the heat sink, actually welded itself in place.
I got them back as part of a trade years later and effectively traded them off again.
They were certainly impressive back in the day however, just give me a good ole BGW750 as it's just an all around better amp in every way in a package that's half the size and weight.
Thanks for posting the scan Sam.:thmbsp:
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Wow SWTPC amps, now you are bringing back memories. I met Dan Meyer at his headquarters in San Antonio in which he had 2 x 210s hooked up to what looked like a wall of Bozak speakers in his showroom, which he cranked up for me. He claimed a lot of his amps were bought by recording studios (who probably tweaked them). I built two Universal 75W RMS amps back in the 70s (must have been good someone stole them) which were very sweet amps and attempted to build two Tigersaurus, which I got working after replacing some undersized resistors. However the main transformer seemed to cause hum and buzz alot, so I removed the transformers and kept the chassis and the rest and brought them to Australia years ago when I settled there. I am now thinking of either rebuilding them or using the chassis x 2 and build two mono AussieAmp kits.
